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Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Restore My Soul

I have read the word ‘restore’
many times in my daily Bible readings assuming God was encouraging me to hang
in there so He could restore me financially and make me into a great success
once more.

However, I did not really get it
until I read Jeremiah 29:13-14 “You will seek me
and find me when you seek me with all your heart.I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather
you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back to the place from which I
carried you into exile.”

This verse totally altered my
perspective.As I understand this verse,
God loves me so much that He will “exile” me or send me into a desert period in
my life to wander around, much like the Israelites, until I finally “seek Him
with all of my heart”. Finally, I get it.Restoration is not about my finances,
but about my soul and my relationship with God.

I realized that to seek Him with “all
my heart” was much more than reading a few verses from the Bible once in a
while.It required a daily meeting with
God reading His word,listening
for His voice and seekingdiscernment.It requires a change in lifestyle to
one that truly would pleaseHim.It isabout becoming
like Jesus Christ in our attitude toward others.

It is incredible that the Almighty
God of the universe is seeking a relationship
with me.Psalm 23 makes so much more
sense to me now, “…He leads me beside quiet waters, He restores my soul.”

The best part is that I can alwayslook forward
to a restored relationship with God, through Jesus Christ, because He promises
that when I seek Him, He will bring me back
from exile.He
is faithful to fulfill His promise.I already feel like I have traveled
hundreds of miles back towards Him.Life
is a journey.We all have daily choices
to make.My choice will be to seek Him
with all of my heart and to be thankful for all He is to me.

Challenge:Ask yourself if you are seeking God with all of
your heart and allow God to guide you into making appropriate life changes.